Marvel Entertainment’s former chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter said Wednesday he’ll hold on to his Disney shares, every week after reports of his termination from the role.
Reuters reported last Wednesday that Disney had laid off the 80-year-old Perlmutter, Disney’s largest individual shareholder, as a part of a cost-cutting campaign.
Perlmutter, nonetheless, told the Wall Street Journal that he was fired for pushing Disney too aggressively to chop costs and running afoul of the creative executives whom newly returned CEO Robert Iger desired to empower.
Isaac Perlmutter told the Wall Street Journal that he was fired for pushing Disney too aggressively to chop costs.AP
Disney didn’t immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
News of Perlmutter’s termination had come after he supported activist shareholder Nelson Peltz’s unsuccessful bid to acquire a seat on Disney’s corporate board.
“Trian CEO Nelson Peltz has a protracted history of improving shareholder returns at many leading consumer businesses,” Perlmutter said in a public statement on Wednesday.
Disney has addressed concerns that it was overspending on streaming.Walt Disney World Resort via Getty Images
Disney, as an element of its restructuring process, had addressed a few of the criticism from Trian Fund Management’s chief Peltz that the Mouse House was overspending on streaming.
“It’s that approach to Disney’s operations that has formed my support for Trian, in looking for to revive the dividend, fix the corporate’s inflated cost structure, and ensure a successful CEO succession,” Perlmutter said.
In line with the WSJ report from earlier within the day, he owns about 30 million shares of Disney, price about $3 billion.
